Determined to see a consumer friendly insurance industry, where service delivery is comparable to what is obtainable in advanced markets, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and the brokerage fraternity have emphasised the need for collaboration.
According to them, greater collaboration is critical in harnessing opportunities of conducting the underwriting and broking businesses in the country through use of technology.
At the 2022 Mid-Year Workshop organised by the Lagos Area Committee (LAC) of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), with the theme, ‘Opportunities and Challenges of Insurtech’ and sub-theme, ‘Automation of Returns, Filing and Licence Renewal Application on National Portal’ held at the council’s corporate headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, stakeholders eulogised the impact of technology in quality delivery of services.
In his opening remark, Rotimi Edu, president, NCRIB lamented the low penetration of insurance in the country, urging participants to leverage opportunities presented by Insurtech to harness not only the accounts of big government corporations like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), but also other large, medium and small-scale businesses that abound in the country.
Gbenga Agboola, chief executive officer of Flutterwave, who was guest speaker at the workshop, highlighted the several opportunities in the brokerage and underwriting business, stressing the need for greater synergy between core insurance practitioners and registered brokers.
Agboola, who further stressed the need for building a technology-dependent insurance sector, canvassed the deployment of a domain presence for successful execution of Insurtech businesses among brokers and underwriters.
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He said over 80 per cent of travels in Nigeria were business-driven, maintaining that chief executives who travel by air across the country do so for one business negotiation or the other and that opportunities abound in all the sectors of the Nigerian economy, including oil and gas, aviation, banking and finance, maritime, transportation, fire and telecommunications, among several others.
On his part, Aribike Abiodun Ladipo, deputy director, Information Technology at NAICOM, who spoke on the sub-theme: Automation of Returns, Filing and Licence Renewal Application on NAICOM’s Portal, told the brokers and all participants at the workshop that the insurance sector regulator has automated all licence renewal application processes on its portal.
Ladipo, who took the brokers through a practical demonstration of the application process, explained that brokers no longer needed to go through the manual application process as it had been phased out, adding that they could now apply for all their requirements to NAICOM from the comfort and confines of their offices.
Earlier in his welcome address, Rotimi Olukorede, chairman, Lagos Area Committee of NCRIB, said: “Recently, the National Insurance Commission opened its portal to all brokers. We have started using it, but there are still challenges. Therefore, the executive decided to bring the deputy director in NAICOM to explain, train and do justice to the issue. Our desire is that no member of the LAC should have problems with NAICOM on this issue.
“It is hard to imagine modern businesses producing a much output as they do today without the help of technology and its innovations. As a matter of fact, technology has improved business operations and overall productivity in several ways. Faster penetration, speed of response to customers, better communication, better customer service and others have been achieved in this age of technological revolution. Technology on its own cannot make business productive, but the right technology must be deployed in the right way for maximum productivity.”
Olukorede pointed out that insurance practitioners have been desirous of a magic wand that would drastically improve penetration and cause a turnaround in the sector, stressing that insurance penetration was still very low, but 5 per cent penetration would do the sector a great deal of good.
Olukorede further explained that insurtech refers to technological innovations created and implemented to improve efficiency in insurance businesses, adding, “It is revolutionising insurance globally by providing customers with seamless and error-free ways of doing the business. Insurtech is a technology capable of disrupting our industry and bring about unprecedented improvements in the fortunes of brokers.”
Citing Henry Ford, who once said: “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself, he stressed the need for brokers to work together in unity towards a common vision, as team collaboration, productivity and greater achievements are inseparable.
